


The Witch in the Forest

by Jee_Eun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Joy is a dog, M/M, Sicheng is a witch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 17:56:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20362687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jee_Eun/pseuds/Jee_Eun
Summary: When Yuta moved to the small village of Ikpo, he was not expecting a witch in the forest. Nor was he expecting love.





	The Witch in the Forest

Ikpo was a very quiet village. Nestled up in the mountains and surrounded by forests, there wasn’t much to the place. There was a small village market and a diner in town. A small bookshop was next to the cafe and around the corner from the post office. The post office itself was in the same building as the municipal building that also housed the fire department and police department. There was one gas station in town, and it only had two pumps for people to use. 

It was isolated, too. 

Yuta supposed that was why Taeyong sent him here. After a nasty breakup and a downfall in his creative juices, Taeyong decided that Yuta needed some air. 

He was right. Yuta felt better here. After so many years of being in different cities, changing scenery every once in a while to gain inspiration, it was good for him to get some fresh air. Which was probably Taeyong’s intentions in the first place. 

Yuta loved Seoul. He really did. He had a nice set up in Gangnam and was able to work on his projects in peace. He loved the hustle and bustle of the city, its noise and its lights. 

But being out here was peaceful in a way he didn’t know he needed until he settled in. There was less stress weighing him down and he felt better than he had in years. Taeyong got him a nice little cottage with a fairly large backyard with plenty of space that Rapenzel enjoyed being able to roam freely in. 

It was all but perfect. 

The only imperfection with Ikpo was the rumors. Whispers throughout town of a witch that lived in the woods. They said that his house had no paths leading to it and no paths leading from it. They whispered that he’d been in the woods since the town was founded, surviving on his own for centuries. And they spoke with hushed tones and bated breath, of his magic. 

Little boys and girls who got lost in the forest always found their way back. Their scrapes and bruises always healed miraculously fast. Teenagers who roamed the forest searching for the witch or merely for a place to party and get drunk with liquor stolen from their parents shelves always found themselves home in bed, perfectly safe and sound without so much as a headache or a scratch. The elderly spoke of plagues and epidemics that avoided their small village and how war left them untouched. Even adults spoke of his magic, telling tales to their children of the witch in the forest. 

Naturally, Yuta didn’t believe them. In fact, he called Taeyong after he first heard of the witch and told him of the rumors, laughing. Taeyong told him to get to work and hung up on him. 

Yuta didn’t believe in magic, he didn’t believe in witches that have lived for centuries up in the forest. The fact that people always returned home was just a matter of them finding their way back and the lack of disease and war was just the village’s location. 

Which is totally how he found himself in said witch’s house. 

To be fair, it was his own fault for not checking the fence in the backyard before letting Rapunzel loose. She managed to find a hole in the fence and snuck through, running into the forest and leaving Yuta to chase after her. She had run, seemingly randomly, in the forest and he chased after her. 

Eventually, the trees gave out and Yuta was chasing Rapunzel into a large clearing in the woods. 

“Rapunzel!” Yuta screeched once he realized that his dog was tearing through someone’s garden, “Get back here!” 

Rapunzel ignored him in favor of bounding through the neatly planted vegetables towards the stone house in the center of the clearing. 

“Rapunzel!” Yuta cried out in despair before chasing his dog towards the house, being careful not to disturb the plants. 

“It’s alright, she can play,” a voice came from behind him. Yuta turned to find the most handsome male he had ever seen, “She isn’t hurting anything.” 

“Still, I don’t want to take the chance of her ruining your neatly done garden,” Yuta said. 

“It’ll be alright,” the male waved a hand, “Come inside, I can get you something to drink and your dog a bowl of water.” 

With that, Yuta followed the ethereal man into the stone cabin. 

Inside the house, it was cozy. There was a small area closed off from the rest of the house for one to take off their shoes that was kept fairly plain before he saw the true whirlwind that was the rest of the house. 

“Woah,” Yuta’s jaw dropped upon entering the rest of the house. A large, cluttered kitchen with an island at the center, a living area with a large fireplace, a cauldron roasting on the fire. A set of stairs, and a door that hid either a bathroom or a pantry. 

The stranger grabbed a glass and a bowl from a cupboard, “I have water, milk, and apple juice that you can drink.”

“I’ll just have some water, thanks,” Yuta smiled, accepting the glass that the stranger filled for him, “My name is Yuta.”

“I know,” the man smiled, “I’m Sicheng, or if you find that difficult, you may call me Winwin.”

“Are you the..” Yuta trailed off, unsure if Sicheng wished to be called a witch or not.

“The witch? Yes I am,” Sicheng gave a small shrug of his shoulders, “It’s ok. I know the townspeople call me that.”

Yuta nodded, “Are the rumors about you true then?” 

“Some are, yes. Others are not,” Sicheng smiled, “You best be on your way before the sun goes down though. I have a spell that can help you find your way but other than that, I can’t help you much more.”

“Thank you,” Yuta felt Rapunzel pawing at his thigh and picked her up, “Come on Rapunzel. Say goodbye to Sicheng.”

He took Rapunzel’s paw and waved it back and forth before putting on his shoes (a difficult task while holding his dog). 

Sicheng muttered something before waving the two of them off and Yuta trudged through the woods once again, this time, somehow knowing where to go. 

Yuta never expected to see Sicheng again, after their strange encounter in the forest. He assumed that Sicheng was the witch that everyone spoke of in town and that he wouldn’t come down from his little sanctuary. 

So naturally Yuta saw him in the small bookshop in town. 

“Hi Doie,” Yuta cheerfully greeted the grumpy bookshop owner. 

“Hi Yuto,” Doyoung didn’t even glance at him, continuing to stack his books. 

“My name is Yuta, Doie! How many times do I have to remind you?” Yuta pouted. 

“As many times as it takes for you to stop calling me Doie,” Doyoung sighed. 

“But it's such a cute nickname Doie!” 

“Literally die,” Doyoung sighed, “Now go find whatever book you want to buy today and stop bugging me. I’m trying to work.” 

Yuta moved to roam the shelves of Doyoung’s bookstore, searching for something that caught his eye. Of course, Doyoung kept everything meticulously organized. Shelves arranged by genre and and books organized by author. Series were kept together and were shelved in order and author’s books were organized alphabetically (by title or series). In Doyoung’s system, every book had its place and Doyoung made sure to keep a shelf of his personal favorites and current reads up front. Doyoung and Kun had even joined forces to put in a little lounge area between their two shops where one could read a book and buy a cup of coffee and maybe a pastry or two. 

The bell on the door rang again as Yuta was browsing through the romance section. He peeked out from behind a shelf to see Sicheng and Doyoung talking to one another and smiling. 

Yuta stared for a moment in shock, breaking out of his stupor once Doyoung disappeared, presumably to fetch an order for Sicheng. 

“Sicheng?” Yuta moved out from behind the large bookshelf. 

“Yuta,” Sicheng blinked in shock, “Hi. I see you made it back okay.”

“Yeah, thanks to your spell,” Yuta smiled. 

Sicheng gave him a small smile as Doyoung returned with a large package. 

“Here you go Sichengie! Make sure to visit Taeil while your in town. You know how he worries,” Doyoung handed the package over, “Did you find a book Yuta?”

“No, not yet. I was just chatting with Sicheng,” Yuta gave his most winning smile. 

“You two know each other,” Doyoung’s eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed. 

“We’ve briefly met,” Sicheng stated, handing Doyoung a sheet of paper, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“No,” Doyoung sighed, “Jeno is coming to town with all of his friends.”

“Good luck with that,” Sicheng grimaced, “I better go if I’m to make it to Taeil’s and then back home before dark.”

Doyoung and Yuta waved him off. 

“So you don’t believe in magic, eh?” Doyoung smirked. 

“Shut up Bunny.” 

“So how do you know Sicheng?” Yuta asked one day, sitting in one of the plush armchairs in the lounge area between the Vision Cafe and the Timeless Book Shop. 

Doyoung, who was busy tidying up said lounge area, looked up at him, a strange look on his face. 

“He orders specific books from me occasionally,” Doyoung shrugged, “They’re all books I don’t normally keep in stock here, not in demand you know? So I order them for him and he pays me in other ways.” 

“Like that sheet of paper he handed you the other day?”

“Like that,” Doyoung returned to tidying up the area.

“So how can he do magic and all of that?” Yuta asked, getting up to help Doyoung move the books back to his shop so he could put them back on the shelves. 

“Most people are born with magic Yuta,” Doyoung explained, “There’s just a select few that know how to use it and choose to do so.”

“Do I have magic then?” Yuta stared down at his hands holding a large stack of books for Doyoung. 

“I don’t know,” Doyoung shrugged, placing a book off of the top of Yuta’s pile back on the shelf, “Don’t you have an actual job you could be doing right now anyway?”

“Eh, Taeyong gives me projects and a due date. I like to hand everything in early so that he has more time to review it before giving it back to me to touch up,” Yuta gave Doyoung a mischievous smile, “Why Doie? Getting sick of me already?”

“I’ve been sick of you, you demon,” Doyoung snarled. 

“Easy there bunny, don’t want you to wreck my perfect face,” Yuta grinned. 

“That’s it!” Doyoung was midlunge when the door jingled open. 

“Um, is this a bad time?” Sicheng asked.

“No, not at all,” Doyoung smiled, scrambling up. Yuta quickly followed, getting back up from the floor he had oh so gracefully fallen to. 

“Great,” Sicheng smiled. 

Yuta melted at the sight of his smile. How can someone so hot also be so cute? 

Doyoung disappeared to grab some books for Sicheng, “Here you go!”

“Thanks Doyoung!” Sicheng quickly left the shop leaving Yuta with Doyoung once more. 

“So where were we again?” Doyoung asked. 

“You were getting ready to claw my eyes out,” Yuta answered easily. 

“Right.”

Doyoung lunged. 

“Rapunzel, no!” Yuta shouted, chasing after his small dog. 

Yuta had been peacefully walking his dog when she suddenly started running, sprinting towards the forest. 

“Rapunzel!” Yuta screeched, sprinting through the forest after her. 

A sense of deja vu washed over him as they reached Sicheng’s cabin. 

“You know, you never told me that you have a pet kitsune,” Sicheng’s voice came from his gardens where he had stopped his garden work in favor of petting Rapunzel. 

“I don’t? Rapunzel is a poodle,” Yuta frowned, “Or at least we think she is.”

“She’s definitely a kitsune or has some kitsune blood in her,” Sicheng stated before cooing, “Come on little one. You have some sort of human form, I know it. You can change.”

Rapunzel just looked at Sicheng strangely for a moment before shifting into a pretty, younger looking woman. 

“How’d you know I’m part kitsune?” she asked, glaring at Sicheng. 

“I’m a witch,” Sicheng smiled, “What’s your name?”

“Sooyoung,” the girl sniffed, “Not Rapunzel or whatever other foolish nickname you can come up with.”

“Hey! I wasn’t the one who named you!” Yuta scowled, “When I adopted you, your name was already Rapunzel!”

“No it wasn’t, my name is Sooyoung and has been since I was a pup! My mother named me Sooyoung after her sister!” Sooyoung defended herself. 

“Well your owner named you Rapunzel and that was the name I took you in under!” 

“Guys,” Sicheng tried to calm them. 

“My name is Sooyoung and because it’s my name, I deserve the right to choose which one I see more fit!”

“You still answered to Rapunzel!”

“No I didn’t!”

“Did too!”

“Guys.”

“Did not!”

“Guys, please.”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“STOP ARGUING!”

“HE STARTED IT!”

“SHE STARTED IT!”

Sicheng facepalmed, “Ok, her human name is Sooyoung and her fox name is Rapunzel. Are you all happy now?”

Yuta and Sooyoung grumbled. 

“Good. Now why are you guys up here?” Sicheng asked, looking at the two of them curiously. 

“She ran up here, I was just chasing her,” Yuta pointed a finger at Sooyoung. 

“I felt the urge to run up here for some reason, probably because you’re a witch,” Sooyoung shrugged. 

“Seriously?” Yuta and Sicheng asked in unison. 

“Yeah, there was something calling me to come up here,” Sooyoung stated. 

Sicheng stared at her in thought for a moment. Finally he placed his watering can on the ground, “Come inside for a moment.”

Sooyoung and Yuta looked at each other before following Sicheng inside his house. 

Sicheng’s house was just as messy as Yuta remembered it. Books everywhere, some open, some not, ingredients all over the kitchen and jars filled with strange liquids among other things lined the shelves. 

Sicheng disappeared upstairs after telling them to wait in the living room only to reappear with a book and a stack of cards. 

“First, let’s see what the cards have to say,” Sicheng shuffled the cards neatly before spreading them out. 

Yuta and Sooyoung glanced at each other.

“One of you has to pick first,” Sicheng encouraged them gently. Yuta shrugged and grabbed a card at random. 

“The Magician,” Sicheng muttered, his eyes clouded in thought, “Pick another card.”

“The Fool,” Yuta read aloud, “Is your deck of cards calling me stupid?”

“Not necessarily, pick one last card,” Sicheng sighed.

“The Lovers.”

Sicheng frowned, “All three of those cards are from the Major Arcana and share the same element.”

“So what’s it mean?” Sooyoung asked. 

“The Magician means willpower, desire and creation while the Fool means innocence, new beginnings and a free spirit. The Lovers represents partnerships and unity,” Sicheng explained, “You coming here was no coincidence.” 

“What does  _ that  _ mean?” Yuta asked. 

“You are the fool. You came here for a fresh start, a new beginning, right?” Sicheng asked. 

Yuta nodded, “Yeah, my friend Taeyong sent me up here.”

“The Magician represents your desire and willpower to create something, which, based off of the Lovers, is a relationship of some sort,” Sicheng finished. 

“And yet again, what does all that mean?” Sooyoung raised an eyebrow. 

“It means that the cards are telling you that some sort of relationship is going to form from you coming here,” Sicheng stated, “Now Sooyoung, your turn.” 

Sicheng shuffled the cards once more and laid them out. 

“The Page of Wands,” Sooyoung read. Sicheng frowned. Sooyoung picked up the next card. 

“Six of Wands,” Sicheng motioned for Sooyoung to pick up another card. 

“The Four of Wands.”

“All are associated with the element of fire,” Sicheng muttered, “Makes sense if she’s a kitsune.”

“What does it all mean?” Sooyoung asked, leaning forward, “Am I going to die?”

“Eventually you’re going to die. Everyone does, but the cards didn’t predict that,” Sicheng deadpanned, “They predicted freedom and exploration in your future that leads to success and home.” 

“That’s good, right?” Sooyoung grinned.

“As long as you don’t accidently change anything, yes,” Sicheng nodded. Sooyoung seemed satisfied with that answer.

“But that still doesn’t answer why we’re here,” Yuta stated. 

Sicheng stared at the two of them for a moment before getting up. 

“Follow me,” Sicheng beckoned. 

Yuta and Sooyoung stood up and followed Sicheng upstairs. Sicheng led them into a small room with no furniture inside aside from a large altar. He quickly lit the candles on the altar, each one being a different color. 

“Kneel with me,” Sicheng instructed as he knelt in front of the altar. 

They did as they were told, kneeling ever so slightly behind Sicheng. The other boy started to mumble something in what seemed to be Chinese but in an extremely strong dialect. 

The candles started to blow out one by one until only one remained lit. 

Sicheng stopped chanting. He stood up to inspect the single candle that remained lit. 

“I understand now, thank you,” Sicheng bowed to the altar and the final candle’s flame doused itself. 

“What was that?” Sooyoung asked, eyes wide. 

“You didn’t tell me your friend Taeyong is a Tennin,” Sicheng looked at Yuta, “You are literally surrounded by magic and yet you didn’t believe in it until you met me?”

“Never came up I guess?” Yuta shrugged sheepishly. 

“Well, it seems he’s doing his duty,” Sicheng stared at him, “You can come out Taeyong, I know you’re here!”

“Hi Sichengie!” Taeyong’s cheerful voice rang out, “I was starting to wonder how long it would take you to notice.” 

“Seriously? Matching up your latest assignment with me?” Sicheng raised an eyebrow as Taeyong appeared from behind Yuta.

“Why not?” Taeyong shrugged, “I haven’t been able to see you in ages and you’re lonely.” 

“Whatever,” Sicheng rolled his eyes, “So you’re set on hooking me and Yuta up?”

“Yup,” Taeyong grinned, “Jaehyunie was the one to suggest it actually!”

“Wait, Jaehyun is in on this thing, too?” Yuta exclaimed at the mention of Taeyong’s boyfriend and Yuta’s college roommate.

“Yeah, we’re dating,” Taeyong deadpanned, “Anyways. Why don’t you two go on a couple of dates and then I’ll stop meddling when you guys fall in love.”

Yuta looked at Sicheng, “I mean, if you’re open to the idea…”

“Diner, tomorrow morning at nine, I’ll be waiting,” Sicheng smiled, “Now everyone get out! I have plants to water!”

Ikpo was a very quiet village. Nestled up in the mountains and surrounded by forests, there wasn’t much to the place. There was a small village market and a diner in town. A small bookshop was next to the cafe and around the corner from the post office. The post office itself was in the same building as the municipal building that also housed the fire department and police department. There was one gas station in town, and it only had two pumps for people to use. 

It was isolated, but it was home. 

Yuta supposed that was why Taeyong sent him here. To find his home. 

It worked. Yuta felt at home here. After so many years of being in different cities, changing scenery every once in a while to gain inspiration, it was good for him to settle down. Which was Taeyong’s intentions in the first place. 

Yuta loved Seoul. He really did. He had a nice set up in Gangnam and was able to work on his projects in peace. He loved the hustle and bustle of the city, its noise and its lights. 

But being out here was peaceful in a way he didn’t know he needed until he settled in. There was less stress weighing him down and he felt better than he had in years. He moved into Sicheng’s house in the woods where there was plenty of space for Sooyoung to run around and play freely in both human form and dog form. Taeyong and Jaehyun were able to move into Yuta’s old house where they were living quite happily and Kun from the cafe and Doyoung from the bookshop were getting married soon.

It was all but perfect. 

The only imperfection with Ikpo was the rumors. Whispers throughout town of a witch that lived in the woods. They said that his house had no paths leading to it and no paths leading from it. They whispered that he’d been in the woods since the town was founded, surviving on his own for centuries. And they spoke with hushed tones and bated breath, of his magic. 

Little boys and girls who got lost in the forest always found their way back. Their scrapes and bruises always healed miraculously fast. Teenagers who roamed the forest searching for the witch or merely for a place to party and get drunk with liquor stolen from their parents shelves always found themselves home in bed, perfectly safe and sound without so much as a headache or a scratch. The elderly spoke of plagues and epidemics that avoided their small village and how war left them untouched. Even adults spoke of his magic, telling tales to their children of the witch in the forest. 

Naturally, Yuta believed them. After all, he lived with the witch and his dog was part kitsune and his best friend some weird cherub thing. 

Yuta didn’t always believe in magic, but now he did. 

And that is totally how he found himself happily in love with said witch surrounded by friends in family in a place to call home. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this mess. It is completely unedited and was written partially while dogsitting. 
> 
> Ikpo is vaguely based off of a real village. I dog sat for a friend up there and it is pretty isolated and surrounded by the forest up on a really large hill. So I based the village off of that. The village was really pretty though and while I was there I got inspired to write this after I took a wrong turn on a road and drove past this really pretty stone house that was basically in the middle of nowhere as it was out of town. 
> 
> Sicheng's strange dialect of Chinese was a reference to his Wenzhounese that none of the other China line members understand and Sooyoung is Red Velvet's Park Sooyoung, aka Joy, my ultimate bias. I try to reference her in every single fanfic I write.
> 
> Also, it wasn't written in, but the diner is actually Astro's D.Store from the Baby M/V, just with food and drinks, not just drinks. That was a thought I had when writing this, I just never put it in.


End file.
